Figuring out how plasma bubbles and blobs affect one another and ultimately the transmission of communications, GPS, and radar signals in Earth’s ionosphere will be the job of a recently selected CubeSat mission.
The growing popularity of small satellites as well as the upcoming deployment of low-Earth orbit mega-constellations will likely greatly increase the amount of space junk as well as the frequency of catastrophic collisions, a study led by the United Kingdom’s University of Southampton suggests.
The spacefaring nations of the world are competing with private companies to build an economy in orbit, colonize the moon, and exploit resources from passing asteroids, but to reach other planets something more is needed.
